Fears Of A New Darfur

Fears Of A New Darfur As Refugees Are Caught In Violence On Sudan's Border -- The Guardian

Bombings and artillery attacks near frontier with South Sudan forces hundreds of thousands into refugee camps

Batul Javil's story is familiar, but terrifying all the same. She had taken her children to visit her parents in a neighbouring village in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state beyond which, after an international border was created in July 2011, Khartoum's rule ends and newly independent South Sudan begins. It was a day, she says, like any other. Then without warning, all hell broke loose.

"All of a sudden, the war came," Javil says. A plane darkened the sky, dropping bombs indiscriminately on the village and its inhabitants. All they could do was run, she says, try to find cover, simply get away. The family could not go back to their village, could not stay where they were, so they headed for the border crossing into South Sudan's Upper Nile state. "It took three days to get to the border. We walked and rested, walked and rested. There was no water. The children were very hungry. All the time the military plane was circling. We were very fearful."

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My Comment: These fears are justified. The crisis and famine started in Darfur in the same way .... indiscriminate bombings followed by refugee camps, ethnic cleansing, and finally famine.